When Magic Collides
by Astreals Ashes
Summary: Unexplained deaths in ancliestere. Unrest in the kingdom. Trouble is bewing. Sorry not very good at summarys. Please R&R. Im back!
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Was about to wait until after junior cert but i have ore then enough time to study. Anyway this is a completely new story new story so please review and tell me what you think. _

_Disclaimer: As much as I'd like to I don't own anything of Garth nixes. _

In Anclisteire where the old kingdom magic seeped through Anclisterene technology a veil of darkness covered the area. In Bain the darkness was at its thickest. The only light from candles lit from the in homes when the electricity failed. This was not uncommon given its closeness to the wall.

A man named Harvey Goodmen was walking home from the train station. He had travelled from the parliament in corvere. He was a group in opposition of the latest plan about the old kingdom. He was sick of the countless arguments, appeals and speeches. While Harvey agreed that there had been far too many incursions from the old kingdom of late. First countless dead crossed the wall and attacked a school while killing many in their path then there was that incident at forwin mill which destroyed acres of land, but this latest plan was far too risky.

All Harvey was thinking about was this and getting home to his wife and kid. This explains how he didn't notice the man following him. Harvey turned down the intersection into an alley. The stranger followed. A few seconds passed. A harsh silver light lit up the alley for approximately 10 seconds. A smell of burning meat wafted out of the alleyway, and Harvey walked out of the alley whistling cheerfully. A second Harvey Goodmen was dead in the alley not at all recognisable under severe burns.

**OoO**

Miles from Bain there was a government car heading to the perimeter. The car was owned y the chief minister Edward sayre. It carried four unusual passengers. One of them was talking cheerfully to a lightly and brown haired young man. The man talking was Nicholas sayre. Seemingly recovered after the incident at forwin mill. The other was prince sameth of the old kingdom. He was fiddling with a coin while listening to nick. There was a woman sitting beside Sam. While not awe inspiringly beautiful she had raven black hair and cream ski which was quite attractive. Lying on the passenger seat staring at the driver in a very non catlike manner was white cat. The driver kept glancing nervously at it.

"You have no idea the looks the nurses gave me when I said i was there at forwin mill" Nick was saying "they wouldn't stop asking me questions. Although i hoped that had more to do with my charming personality"

"I doubt it" chuckled Sam.

"I've never been so insulted! I hope a youre sister gives me a better welcome!" nick winked his eyebrows suggestively.

Lireal glanced at nick who immediately blushed. Sam saw it and grinned.

"If only you could come straight back to the old kingdom with us nick" Sam said" I could sow you around the palace. We could teach you charter magic!"

"Hmmmmmm as much as I would love to explore this magic I have some stuff to sort before i go. How will i be going to the palace anyway?"

"There will be a paperwing at Barhedrin hill for you. Just send a letter before you go and well get you're room ready."

"Were here" the driver said suddenly.

They all looked outside. They were at the edge of the perimeter. Concertina wire stitched the land in front of them. Among them were wind flutes that sabrial had put up before leaving for the old kingdom. The old ones were destroyed when hedge had crossed the wall and raised an army of dead using southerling refugees. It had been time consuming for Sabrial and since Lireal had to watch her late at night making them she was glad it was over. The wall lay ahead a glittering wall stretching from coast to coast. Charter marks constantly moving around them. Lireal and sam waved goodbye to nick.

**OoO**

In Bain the law enforcement were cordoning off an alley. In the middle of the alley was a burned body in the centre of some kind of pentagram. The pentagram had runes around the outer circles. Two men in black trench coats were watching scouts from the wall examining it. They shared a glance and walked off. They had much to report to their employer.

_A/N: Well i think this is better than my last story. I could of course be wrong. Please Read and review. _


	2. Investigations

_Disclaimer: Garth Nix owns it al__l_

Already Nick was missing his friends. It had been only a day and he was in a hotel in Bain. He was not enjoying himself. The room was luxurious, but he didn't have the usual appreciation for it. It was a lot better then what he had to put up with in hedges care , but there was something bothering him. He couldn't explain it but there was something like an ach inside of him since he had said goodbye to Sam and Lireal at the wall. If only he could have gone straight back to the Old Kingdom, but he had to get his permit and assets off his uncle before he could cross the wall. He hoped he could find someone to exchange them for Old Kingdom deniers. A polite knock interrupted his musings.

"Mr sayre. There is somebody here to see you" a voice from behind the door said.

He recognised the voice as the manager's daughter. He had been trading old kingdom stories with her the night before. She was a cheerful and easy going person. The only time she appeared subdued was when she had told him the story that her father told her about when Kerrigor crossed the wall.

"Really? Did he give a name?" Nick said as he opened the door.

"Yes as a matter of fact he did. Lieutenant Tindall or something"

"What does he want with me I wonder" Nick wondered aloud.

"You're guess is as good as mine. Sounds secret and confidential though. You know what that means though?" she said.

Nick shrugged and thought about what she meant.

"You'll have something to tell me for a change!" she said with a mock shocked expression.

Nick grinned. He hadn't been comfortable with telling her his story about forwin mill so he had largely listened last the night before, but a secret of the government he would definitely not be uncomfortable with telling her.

"Well better see what he wants. See you later?" Nick said.

"Of course. Wouldn't miss this story for the world!" she said as she turned around and walked away.. He shook his head bemused and went down to see what the lieutenant wanted.

*** * * * * * * * * ***

The paperwing hovered above the palace before doing its circular landing pattern. Sam was shivering with the cold and Lireal wasn't faring much better. It was a quick and uneventful journey, but the altitude and wind had made it freezing! Lireal was shivering madly beside him. Who would have expected someone who lived in a glacier to be so affected by the cold? The paperwing landed and was instantly inspected by a group of carers.

Sam smiled at the look on Lireals face. She was staring shocked at the place. It was colossal lireal thought to herself. Towers reaching to the heaven, statues incredibly detailed dooted the grounds and main entrance, a soft comforting glow radiated off it and the main door!

The castles entrance door was huge. Easily thirty to fourthy feet tall. Designs of animals and mythological creatures of the Old Kingdom were so realistic she half expected them to walk out of the door, snakes flowing through the artwork with ruby's for eyes, beautiful men and woman at the ground level and charter marks moving through the door not obscuring it only enhancing it's beauty.

"Quite a sight isn't it?" Sam commented to lireal.

"You can say that again" Lireal replied.

"It took a while to repair the palace" Sam continued as he fell in step beside her "when the reget burnt it there must have been some free magic used because no matter wat we did we could use charter sending's!"

Lireal nodded sagely not really listening.

"So father had to bring in the citizens of belisiare to help. That must have been hard to do." Sam said apparently unaware of his audiences disinterest.

"Stop boring our Aunt Sam!" a scolding voice sad from a woman who lireal recognised as ellismere fro forwin mill.

"Who said i was boring her!" Sam said while scowling at his sister. Elismere waved his comment away and turned to look at lireal.

"Sorry father couldn't come, but there's been trouble from the elders around belisaire"

"Really? What's happening?" Lireal asked curious.

"Well the thing is there complaining about having to pay taxes when there not technically not in belisaire, but touchstone is arguing that there still being protected by the royal guards and it seems as though no side is going to back down. Touchstone will most probably sort it out" Elismere said.

Lireal nodded sympathetically, but she secretly agreed with the elders. The royal guards protected everybody in the old kingdom why should the pay for everybody's right?

"Anyway while fathers away it's up to us to show our aunt around" Elismere said affectionately.

*** * * * * * * * * ***

Nick was waiting at the bar in the train station. He kept idly looking at the clock on the wal to see how long e had left till his train came. He was thinking about lieutenant thindalls talk just a few hours ago. The lieutenant had been nervous when he got there. His eyes nervously flitting to the people around him. When he explained what he had to tell him he understood why. Apparently there had been horrific ritualistic deaths all across ancliestere and a few neighbouring countries. The method was all the same and equally unexplainable. All the bodies had been so badly burned that they weren't even remotely recognisable. They all had been in some strange symbol, that while was magical, nobody recognised it. This was seemingly not what made the lieutenant nervous. The lieutenant said there was a group of people who were snooping around.. Whenever somebody tried to bring them in for questioning they always managed to evade them. While they were looking for them they corner soldiers and somehow persuade them to give them information. He said the only reason he told him this was that most of their questions were about nick. Disturbingly two of the soldiers who had told them what they wanted had recently gone insane. His advice was to get out of Bain quickly. He then left after the warning.

Nick knew he wasn't one to get spooked easily. Although he had to go to the parliament in corver he was pretty sure he would be safe in ancliestere for a few more days. Then he would be in the Old Kingdom and they could hardly hunt him to the Old Kingdom! He had waited till the nightime to get the train. It was cheaper and there were less people on it. He glanced at the clock and saw that more time had passed then he thought. His train would be here. He walked out and saw that the train had conveniently just pulled up. He walked on and noticed a person wearing a trench coat getting on as well. He payed the ticket seller and settled into a seat on the train. I'll be going to the Old Kingdom soon he thought wistfully.

He felt a very strange feeling after a while. It was that feeling raidiating from his charter mark when free magic was close. There was also a strange uneasy feeling from that little part of him that was free magic. It was kindave like a dull ache from a recently healed broken bone. Not painful but not pleasant either. When he focused on the feeling it went away as though he imagined it. He mentally shook himself and told himself it was probably his imagination. He glanced at the man getting aboard after the ticket seller said a greeting.

"Hello Mr. Goodmen! Late night for you!"

*** * * * * * * * * ***

In corver outside the parliament one of the night shift guards were sneaking in a cigarette break. As per usual it had been a godforsaken, wet and windy night. He looked up as a boy no more than sixteen or seventeen walked up to him. He was plain in all respects except for his eyes which were bright blue and sparkling.

"Hello. How are you" he asked pleasantly.

"Get a life twerp" growled the not in such a good mood guard.

The boy shrugged then was about to walk away then paused as though forgetting something.

"But isn't there one right in front of me?" he giggled.

He suddenly lunged and stabbed him in the throat. His eyes turned a brighter ad brighter blue showing his excitement.

_A/N: I really like doing these ominous endings. Anyway thanks to everybody who reviewed this. I'll try to have this one up quicker. _


	3. Apologies

Hello anybody who is reading this fan fiction. Shortest chapter imaginable but anyway i just came to tell everybody the next chapter won't be up till March. I have tests and stuff that I have to study for so you will have to wait. Sorry


	4. Trouble

_A/N: Oh I am so sorry! With tests and social stuff I didn't really have time to write or anything. I'll try to speed this up. Thanks to anybody who's reading this!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own anybody in this story._

Lireal stood on the lowest battlement in the palace. It faced towards the capital city belisaire. The city sprawled out in front of her. The aqueducts barely visible from the distance. If she concentrated she could just see the movement of the water. Strange how a practical means of bringing water around the city was the only thing that saved them during the integram. I wonder how it was made she tought to herself. She knew that theiur was a reservoir of water at the highest point in the city, protected itself by the circling of water, which goes to a second reservoir which then is led back to the first reservoir(backflow is stopped by a clever valves method) and was purified while passing through the valves by charter marks. Then the whole process started again.

My new family have been welcoming she thought to herself. After she was given an extensive tour of the palace they had went to eat. The family usually eat in a small room in the palace but there was some sort of festival on so they had eaten in the banquet room. Lireal had been amazed by the grandness of the room. The floor was pure white and seemed to glow, the walls were a light golden colour and ice sculptures were at every corner. They were so amazingly beautiful that lireal forgot about the banquet itself. When she managed to tear her eyes from them she noticed mouth watering food on tables between the ice sculptures. They were seated at a long table. The rest of the meal passed in a blur. Everybody was so happy to see her!

It was vastly different to the glacier but equally uncomfterble. What had she done for everybody's warmth? Who would have guessed she would have been uncomfterble at belonging.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Sam said walking towards her.

Sam glanced back. What in the charter was a penny? Lireal thought to herself.

"Sorry keep forgetting you don't understand anclistiere sayings. So trying to get used to being noticed?

Lireal looked surprised that he knew how she felt. Sam chuckled.

"No offenses but you're not very good at hiding you're feelings" Sam said grinning "you should give mother a chance though"

"I love sabrial! It's just different to feel..........." Lireal stopped not sure how to describe it.

"Equal" Sam said gently. He continued when all lireal did was stare into space.

"You may feel awkward but sabrial is so happy to see you! I think she needs something we can't give her. When her father died that was pretty much the last collection to her family. She made one with us but i think she needs her won. You know?"

"I think i get it. While i was surrounded by cousins and one aunt i never had any real family. I understand the yearning for family."

Sam smiled as he saw she understood. Suddenly Lireal noticed a blue object from the palace come towards them. It had the soft insubstantial glow of a flame. It was gliding closer. It was small no bigger then a blackbird. A blackbird entirely made of blue flame but anyway. It skimmed over lireal who flinched as it passed. It landed on the battlements surface. It looked up innocently at sam.

"All royal blood should report to the conference room immediately and lireal the remembrancer " the bird said in a voice that more belonged to a seven year old girl then a magical bird. It nodded at Sam and took off into the sky. Sam and lireal glanced at each other.

"Seems we've been summoned" Sam said

**OoO**

Nick was watching the scenery flash by while he was on the train. The only other passengers on the train were the man in the trench coat and Mr. Goodman. Nick knew mr. Goodman by name more than anything else. He was some sort of politician at the moot. He was sitting staring out the window with a small smile as though at some private joke.

The man in the trench coat was reading from the evening news paper. His face was so blank it was almost masklike. Tall with piercing brown eyes and with the air of confidence he looked very formidable.

The train must be nearing corvere by now. Nick wondered how his arrival would be. His uncle knew he was coming but it was the other politicians' he was worried about. Everybody knew he was in the old kingdom and everybody wanted to do something about the old kingdom. Apparently people were getting angry about the incursions from the old kingdom. Just today a pamphlet stating concerns about the "foreign problems becoming ours" as the pamphlet said. It outlined the king and queens trouble controlling their land. Nick had been surprised and angry when he heard this. The government had usually never acknowledged the old kingdom. Now they were complaining about it. What was going on?

The nonstop country side changed to more regular houses. The houses were cream coulored and had a cosy feel to them. They must be nearing corvere. All nick had to do was get the permit off his uncle and he was ready to go back to the old kingdom.

**OoO**

"The message hawk came an hour ago" Touchstone was saying as sam and lireal walked into the conference room. They sat down beside Sabrial who smiled warmly at both of them. The smile was a harried one though. Sabrial looked remarkably like her sister lireal but had a tough expression in her eyes which hinted that she had seen more then she wanted sometime.

"Sorry if i interrupted anything but i thought it imperative that you see this" Touchstone said to sam and lireal "I received a letter from quire an hour ago. It contained a imagery charter mark. It was from the royal guard house in quire"

Quire was a town just at the edge of king touchstones realm. A fairly uninteresting town. No real trade existed between belisaire and quire. The villagers usually made their own clothes and farmed their own food. Touchstone paused before continuing.

"This is what it contained" Touchstone said quietly and opened the letter.

A stream of charter marks flowed out of the letter and hung in the air. A picture started to form in the square of charter marks. A room with two message hawks in them and the room was plain and undecorated.

"King! We are being attacked! They attacked us suddenly when the light failed. We urgently call assistance but i fear you will be too late." A voice said loudly from the picture. There were sounds of fighting from the picture, men screaming, the inhuman screeching of the dead, swords hitting flesh and a curious deep boom. Everybody was listening and watching intently.

"I sent the young and the unable to fight away. We will try to keep them back to give them time to escape. Please send somebody! My wife and kids are there! I doubt they will get away."

The sound of fighting got closer. The image spun to a door in the room. The sounds were so loud they seemed to come from just outside the door. A long human scream came from the outside the door followed by smoke curling under the door.

"Go!" the voice roared. It spun to reveal a large man drawing a sword facing a blasted in door with a figure with one hand raised and in the other a sword. The view raced towards the window and ended when the soldier died.

There was silence in the conference room as the scene ended. Touchstone looked grim, Sam looked shocked, lireal and sabrial looked saddened but with a professional determination on their face.

"It is possible we can reach quire in time to save any survivors" Touchstone said "but there's only one paperwing and no near guardhouses. It will take six hours riding nonstop to get to quire. Anybody who goes will have to know that if you run into trouble we may not be able to help you in time"

"Sorry dear but were used to dangerous situations by now" Sabrial said smiling slightly. Touchstone tried to smile back but it looked more like a grimace.

"I thought i lost you once. I don't want to go through that again" Touchstone murmured.

"You won't. I'll be back you can count on it. Besides like id hear the end of it in death if i did!" Sabrial replied. Touchstone actually smiled this time.

" Not to interrupt this lovely moment. But shouldn't we be planning? Hopefully not rushing blindly into danger of course," Moggot interrupted rudely.

"Much as it pains me to say this" Sabrial said "But moggets right. I think lireal and i should go in the paperwing to quire wile touchstone and sam ride. At best we will have it all sorted out before you get there................ at worst you'll be our second attack"

"So rushing blindly id the plan as usual? Well if we are going to do that we shouldn't put all our eggs into one basket. Personally i like the birds more but whatever." Moggot said.

"Catnip again moggot?"

"No. If you and lireal go together and more importantly die together we will have no defence against the dead. Well i personally don't count Miss etiquette and scarecrow to be of use if you die. Why don't lireal and Sam travel by paperwing and elismere and you travel by horse. I personally don't think it's wise to leave a steward in charge with the trouble over those ridiculous taxes."

"Oh no! I have to say it again! Moggots right, although honey if you cut your hair differently you wouldn't look like a scarecrow? Anyway moggot is right about the travelling." Sabrial said.

"He is right. If we want to have a chance saving anybody we better leave now!" Touchstone said striding out.

"Typical Touchstone all about speed" Moggot said smiling mischievously at sabrial.

**OoO**

Nick toyed with his roast veal salad. Supposedly his uncle had to attend a formal meal before he could give nick his permit and since nick was his nephew he had to attend. They were in a dining room that was almost suffocating. It was entirely circular and two windows were the only air source. There was a wooden floored dancing area and a stage surrounded by the tables for people to eat at. The low murmur of quite conversations stopped as a man stepped onto the stage.

"This should be interesting" a boy murmured to a man beside him. Nick wondered why a boy of sixteen or seventeen would be at this dinner. He turned to the speaker who he saw was the man he was on the train with.

"Ladies and gentleman! I am so sorry to interrupt you're dinner but we are at an important juncture in you're lives. The old kingdom nuisance is getting far out of line. Unfortunately all of you were about to make a wrong choice. Mind you i can't blame you. You are all politicians after all." Harvey Goodman said to a confused and outraged crowd. A flicker at the corner of nicks eye made him glance. Black robed men had entered the room and silently locked the doors.

"That's why my colleagues and i decided to intervene" Harvey said gesturing to the men" Your lives are about to take an exciting turn. You will be fundamental in the change in this country."

Nick glanced up and saw a shape glowing through the paint in the ceiling. It was slowly growing brighter. Is that a pentagram? He took out the charter blade that Sam gave him.

"Well you won't be alive during it but beggars can't be choosers" Harvey gave the crowd a friendly smile as he raised his arms towards the ceiling and at the same time the boy stood up and did the same. The pentagram shone piercingly bright and across the old kingdom everything free and charter felt a moment of dread they couldn't explain.

_A/N: Again sorry for the wait. If you get sick of my slow updating you should read flawless evil by master of grey, Night child by ghogoti, and five charter by sanareylle. Actually anything by sanareylle. Sorry for misspellings._


	5. The Beginning

_A/N: Thanks for all the reviews master of gray. Btw anybody who's reading this is a two part thing. So expect a cliff-hanger._

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story. Except for some of the villains. _

Outside the most popular restaurant in ancliestere four men in trench coats waited in a car. The car was completely unremarkable but was obviously high quality. There seemed to be some conversation going on.

"Dunno why we have to watch this kid. Waste of time if you ask me" the youngest of them said. He was holding one of the new automatic guns that came out. Strangely they all had swords.

"Boss didn't say why we had to mind the kid. Doesn't have to does he? This nick is not one of those government types. Have more those across the wall types. What you think Rufuis?" the largest of them said.

Rufuis was the man who sat just a little bit straighter then the rest and had just a bit more of an air of authority about him. He was tall and slim with a slight scar running down his neck. He had two pistol strapped to his waist and beside them two daggers with dormant charter marks on them. He turned to look at his comrades who looked at him expectantly as though waiting an order.

"Our boss told us to follow nick for a reason. I did hear from my sources in the old kingdom he was there. Unfortunately his stay wasn't his choice. I would dearly like to know what happened. The government is being its usual self by trying to cover it up. That many deaths is hard to cover up and the army of dead walking down the perimeter was hard to ignore. Regardless we were told to keep him from harm and that's what we will do" Rufuis said.

"Whatever you say but I bet nothing-"the young man was saying.

Just then an incredibly right light exploded out from the building. The glass shattered, the doors of the diner blew open, every window in a five kilometre radius shattered and the men in the cart flinched away from the light. There was then a silence louder than the loudest sound. Rufuis who was apparently the leader of the group glanced at the youngest of them who was staring shocked at the building.

"Well boys lock and load. I doubt that's it" Rufuis said as he stepped out.

**OoO**

"That was a bit more dramatic than I thought it would" the boy commented.

Nick opened his eyes warily. Everybody had dived to the ground when the pentagram flashed. He glanced at his uncle. His uncle was slowly reaching for the gun he always had hidden under his coat. Mr. Goodman was watching the men in robes herding five or six of the diners into the centre of the room. The boy was staring intently at the ceiling. Nick could practically see what was going on in his uncle's mind. He then raised the gun and fired. Nick watched as the trigger clicked uscleslly. He was suddenly raise to the tips of his toes as though by some mad dummy master.

"Bravo for bravery my dear man. But did you really think that normal rules applied here? No sorry that was a rhetorical question" the boy said staring at the ceiling.

"What do you want?" His uncle said. The boy waved his hand and there was a sickening crack from his uncle's jaw. He mumbled incoherently in pain.

"Not really in the mood for threats or promises" he replied.

There were sudden shots fired outside and answered by more shots. The men in the robes glanced at goodman nervously who advanced slightly. They quickly started putting a strange white powder around the people in the centre. They then backed away.

"Barishka its time!" Goodman shouted to the boy. Nick tried to move but he couldn't. There was some sort of pressure keeping him down coming from the pentagram.

"As you can see I'm a bit short of time. Don't worry though I'm a good sport. Ill include you in the main event!" the boy who was apparently Barishka said. Nicks uncle glided quickly to the centre of the room. Nick struggled more fiercely against whatever kept him down.

Suddenly all at once these things happened at once. Mr goodman was hit in the chest with a stray bullet that came from outside, the men in robes drew swords with strange marks on them, and nick felt heat from his chest and forehead. The force over him snapped like a piece of rope held in tension. He leapt up and drew his dagger. Barishka took something from his pocket and threw it up at the ceiling. Time and sound seemed nonexistent as though the world was holding its breath. Then a savage wind battered nick which seemed to originate from the pentagram.

The boy then looked at nick and gave a smile which froze nicks heart.

**OoO**

It was a lot colder in the paperwing then sam remembered. The speed combined with the height made it very uncomfortable. In the paperwing were Sam, Lireal and Moggot. Lireal was busy guiding the paperwing so she was not a great conversationalist. They were flying for the past hour. Sabrial had thought that if she and touchstone left four hours before them then they would arrive with little time between them. Sabrial and Touchstone had then left with two dozen royal guards and Sam and Lireal were left to wait for an agonizing four hours before they could leave.

Sam thought they must be near by now. He glanced questioningly at Lireal who was guiding the paperwing. Moggot had woken up and was staring around the sky. He was probably looking for gore crows Sam thought to himself. Mind you we don't actually know if it's a necromancer. Why would a necromancer attack a rural town? Actually why would anybody?

"What in the kingdom?" Lireal whispered interrupting his musings.

She was staring down and Sam followed her gaze. Where the village quire was there was just devastation and death. Houses were blackened by fire, fields were scorched, bodies were blackened and survivors were gathered in the centre. They landed on the hill that was least damaged and furthest from the people. Sam was staring shocked at the devastation around him. The death was in stark contrast with the friendly rays of the sun.

"What do you think?" Lireal asked.

"What?" Sam asked tearing his eyes from the horrid figure of a dead boy no more than nine.

"Should we wait for touchstone or go and talk to the survivors now?" Lireal replied.

"I doubt these are survivors of this attack" Moggot murmured after slinking out of the paperwing.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Use what brain you have. If they were survivors why would they just wait around" Moggot said scathingly "Also there is something off about them. Like a disturbance around them. Like heat haze almost"

Sam glanced at the group. There were seven of them. They were all staring at the ground. All of were wearing matching black shirt and pants except for the man in middle. He was wearing some sort of suit that the gentlemen in those moving pictures Sam saw. He was holding a walking stick in one hand and in the other he was holding a book. The haze Moggot was talking about made more description difficult.

"I say we go closer" Sam said "Father and Mother will be here soon also we have an abhorsen in waiting and a wall maker to fall back on"

"Ahem also a comparably more powerful free magic spirit of course" Sam said when moggot glanced at him.

"I think we should wait. What could happen in the time it takes them to get here? " Lireal responded.

A fog started to rise from where they were the people were staring like steam out of a geyser. Contrary to fog it rose up above the ground and formed a small cloud. Even more worrying was at the spot where the fog had come from red sparks were being flung in a anticlockwise pattern.

Five minutes later they were hiding behind a monument no more than five metres away from the group. The sparks had stopped flying but the cloud remained. They had their eyes closed and the man in the middle was reading from the book and gesturing more and more wildly. Curiously they could not hear anything from the group. They were right at the edge of the strange disturbance and moggot was eyeing it with something close to admiration.

"A silence spell, very difficult to do with free magic and over such a large area. I'm actually at a loss at how they managed it. They all have power but nowhere near enough to do this. All but the middle one I can't sense anything from him" Moggot said after a while.

"Then who cast it? " Lireal asked.

Moggot opened his mouth to reply but was drowned out by a sudden sound. A high and incredibly piercing sound was all they could hear. Sam covered his ears and tried to block out that sound. His nose started bleeding profusely. It went on and on until it suddenly stopped. They looked up and saw the group raise their hands while the man in the suit held one hand towards the spot where the fog and sparks had come from and with the other crushed the book in his hands which burst into flames.

The flame was answered by steam and a stream of charter marks from the spot which was now a sizeable hole. They rebounded off some kind of invisible barrier around the group. Sam and Lireal could feel the heat of the charter marks. Some of these marks Sam would not have dared to try and the others he did not recognise. Something shining white was slowly rising from the hole. The onslaught of charter marks increased. The book was growing an even brighter and ferocious flame. Sam and Lireal could not see what was rising through the charter and haze. The haze seemed to be fluctuating. Every time the haze fell a sickening wave of free magic stench rolled out. Once they heard the man in the suit shout "Hold fast!" or something along those lines.

All of a sudden it just stopped. The flow of charter stopped like a candle being guttered out by wind. Sam and Lireal could finally see what had come out. A incredibly white object stood there. It was long and deep but also narrow. It was so white that it hurt sams eyes just to look at it. Now that the haze fell they could see it was absolutely covered in charter marks. Not one space was. Lireal could not be sure but she thought she smelt a hot stench but it quickly disappeared. The only word to describe it was a sarcophagus. Although it was easily nine foot in length.

" I think we should rush the and have the element of surprise" Sam whispered completely unaware that the silence spell had collapsed.

The sorcerers turned around. Six hands rose towards them. On their own or even in pairs they would have been no match for Sam or Lirelal but there was three for each of them. Sam felt all the strength leave his body and his connection to the charter get blown out like a warm comforting fire blown out by a harsh winter wind. The sorcerers were struggling though. Sweat was running down their brow and they were shaking with the exertion. With a sudden urge of will Lireal tore the collar off Moggot. A fire spread upwards in a anticlockwise direction and a wave of free magic fire rolled towards the sorcerers. Only then did the man in the suit move. He held up a hand and the fire stopped. He then slowly balled his hand into a fist. The fire rolled onto itself and disappeared in a small flash. Also yreal was being forced back into cat shape with apparent ease. Sams head was spinning. Darkness was rushing onto his mind. He tried to move but he could not. The last thing he saw was the ground rushing towards him.

**OoO**

The group with Touchstone and Sabrial had stopped to rest the horses. It was a beautiful day. The sun shined down illuminating everything. Touchstone and Sabrial were sitting by a small pond while the horses drank from it. A soldier walked over to touchstone. Before he could say anything the ground shook violently. Soldiers fell to the ground, the horses ran to the pond while the pond bubbled and steamed, Sabrial and touchstone scrambled to their feet and tried to keep their balance. They looked to the east. A low hanging cloud was a throbbing a golden colour. Suddenly the cloud burst apart and charter exploded out of it. They glowed brighter and brighter and went higher and higher. It was a signal that could be seen across the old kingdom. Family's doing their chores glanced up and stared, Elisimere stopped her fencing training and stared in alarm, and the clayr's glacier shook to its foundations. Deep under the palace the charter stones glowed in response. The rumbling stopped and the charter marks faded. Touchstone grabbed a soldier who was struggling to his feet.

"Gather the guard! Leave the tents! We must hurry!" touchstone said commandingly. He then went over to sabrial and told her it was from quire. Her face clouded with worry for her family.

The soldier saluted and set off at a furious pace. Within a few minutes they were galloping towards quire. The soldiers totally unaware that they were in a furious race against any dead and free magic within a 10 kilometre radius who would all be drawn by the sudden activity.

_A/N: Maybe a bit overdramatic but whatever. Please read and review. _


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